The Price of Bread Chapter 1 — Ten Silver

WHEN DRAGON BLEED

Volume I — The Price of Bread

Chapter 1 — The Price of Bread

Winter had no mercy for the poor.

It did not care whether a man had children.

It did not care whether an old woman had spent forty years working the same field.

It did not care whether a family had once owned land, or whether their house had stood in the village for generations.

Winter came.

It took the crops.

Then the animals.

Then the firewood.

And finally, when there was nothing else left, it took people.

In the village of Rensar, the snow had covered the fields for three weeks.

Ten-year-old Kael stood at the edge of one of them, staring at the white ground.

He remembered what the field looked like in summer.

Green.

Warm.

Full of wheat.

His father had once told him that the field could feed the village if the harvest was good.

This year, the harvest had been terrible.

Kael kicked the snow.

Nothing happened.

He kicked it again.

Still nothing.

Behind him, a small voice called his name.

"Kael!"

He turned.

His sister Mira was standing beside their house.

She was eight years old and wearing a coat that had belonged to their mother when she was young.

The sleeves were too long.

Mira had tied them around her wrists with pieces of string.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Looking."

"At snow?"

"At the field."

"There's nothing there."

"I know."

"Then why are you looking?"

Kael shrugged.

"Maybe something will appear."

Mira stared at him.

"You're strange."

"So you keep telling me."

She walked toward him.

"Mother says come inside."

"Why?"

"She made soup."

Kael looked toward their house.

"Real soup?"

Mira hesitated.

"Yes."

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"What's in it?"

"Water."

He laughed.

Mira smiled.

For a moment, neither of them felt hungry.

Then Kael's stomach growled.

Mira looked at him.

"That was loud."

"It wasn't me."

"It was."

"The snow made that sound."

"The snow doesn't have a stomach."

Kael sighed.

"You know everything."

"I know more than you."

They walked home together.

Their house was small.

One room for sleeping.

One room for everything else.

A fireplace stood against the far wall.

There was no fire in it.

Their mother, Elara, stood over a pot.

Their father, Tomas, sat at the table.

He was staring at four copper coins.

Kael stopped.

His eyes went immediately to the table.

Four coins.

That was all.

He had been counting their money for weeks.

He knew exactly how much they had.

"Father?"

Tomas looked up.

"You're back."

"Where did you get those?"

His father closed his hand around the coins.

"Work."

"Where?"

"At the mill."

"How much?"

"Two coins."

Kael looked at the four coins again.

"Then there were already two."

His father smiled faintly.

"You count too much."

"We need to."

His father didn't answer.

Kael looked at the pot.

"What's for dinner?"

His mother turned around.

"Potatoes."

"How many?"

"Kael."

"How many?"

His mother sighed.

"Three."

Kael looked at the four people in the room.

Three potatoes.

Four people.

Mira climbed onto the bench.

"Maybe I'm not hungry."

Kael immediately said, "You are."

"No."

"You always are."

"Not today."

"You're lying."

"So are you."

Kael smiled.

Their mother looked at both children.

"Enough."

They became quiet.

She placed the pot on the table.

Three potatoes floated in hot water.

No meat.

No vegetables.

No salt.

Kael stared at it.

His father lowered his head.

Nobody complained.

That was the worst part.

They had become used to it.

That night, Kael woke to voices.

His parents were speaking quietly.

He kept his eyes closed.

"We can't continue."

His mother's voice.

"I know."

"The landlord came again."

"I know."

"He said he'll take the house."

"I know."

"Then what will we do?"

Silence.

Kael heard his father breathe.

"I'll find work."

"You've been saying that for a month."

"I'll find something."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

"Then tell me the truth."

Another silence.

Kael's heart began beating faster.

"What truth?" his father whispered.

"That we're finished."

His mother began crying.

Kael opened his eyes slightly.

The room was dark.

His father was sitting beside the fireplace.

His shoulders looked smaller than they had yesterday.

Smaller than they had last year.

"We still have the children," Tomas said.

His mother answered:

"Exactly."

Kael closed his eyes again.

He didn't understand why those words frightened him.

Not yet.

The next morning, Kael went to the market.

The market had once been noisy.

Now it was mostly empty.

A grain merchant from the southern provinces had arrived with several wagons.

People surrounded him.

They begged.

They argued.

They offered coins.

The merchant refused most of them.

Kael watched from a distance.

A woman stood before the merchant holding a baby.

"I can pay after spring."

"No."

"My husband will work."

"Everyone says that."

"Please."

The merchant pointed toward the road.

"Go."

The woman lowered her head.

Kael watched her leave.

Then he looked at the grain.

Sacks.

Rows of them.

More food than his village had seen in months.

He walked closer.

The merchant noticed him.

"You."

Kael stopped.

"Yes?"

"You buying?"

Kael reached into his pocket.

Two copper coins.

The merchant looked at them.

Then laughed.

"What can I buy with that?"

"A loaf?"

"No."

"Half?"

"No."

Kael looked at the sacks.

"How much for one?"

"Three silver."

Kael frowned.

"Last year it was one."

"Last year was last year."

"Why?"

The merchant leaned closer.

"Because there isn't enough."

Kael looked at the wagons.

There were fourteen sacks visible.

He looked behind the merchant.

More.

"There's enough here."

The merchant's smile disappeared.

"Go home."

Kael didn't move.

"People are hungry."

"Not my problem."

Kael looked at him.

"Then what is your problem?"

The merchant laughed.

"Making money."

Kael turned away.

He didn't say anything else.

But he remembered the man's face.

When Kael returned home, there was a wagon outside.

A large wagon.

Two horses.

Two armed guards.

And a man wearing a fur coat standing beside his father.

Kael stopped walking.

His mother was crying.

Mira stood beside her.

Kael looked at his father.

"Who is he?"

His father didn't answer.

The man in the fur coat did.

"My name is Halvek."

Kael didn't like him.

Halvek smiled.

"You must be Kael."

Kael looked at his father again.

"Why is he here?"

Tomas stepped toward him.

"Come inside."

"No."

"Kael."

"Why is he here?"

His father looked at the ground.

Halvek reached inside his coat.

Coins jingled.

Kael heard them.

He looked at his father's hands.

Then at Halvek.

Then at the wagon.

His stomach tightened.

"No."

His father froze.

Kael took a step backward.

"No."

"Kael..."

"You sold me."

His mother covered her face.

Mira began crying.

Tomas whispered:

"We have no food."

"Then sell the house."

"We'll have nowhere to live."

"Sell the land."

"We owe the landlord."

"Then sell something else!"

"There is nothing else."

Kael stared at him.

"There is always something."

His father couldn't answer.

Halvek sighed.

"I have work for him."

Kael looked at the merchant.

"What kind?"

"Labor."

"How long?"

Halvek smiled.

"Until your debt is paid."

"What debt?"

Halvek glanced at Tomas.

"Your father's."

Kael looked at his father.

"You owe him?"

"No."

Halvek corrected him.

"Your father owes the miller. The miller owes me. Your father cannot pay the miller. So I am solving the problem."

Kael understood.

He looked at the coins.

Ten silver.

His life had a price.

Ten silver.

Mira grabbed his arm.

"Don't go."

Kael looked at her.

He wanted to say he wouldn't.

He wanted to promise he would come back tomorrow.

But something inside him knew that would be a lie.

A guard seized his shoulder.

Kael fought.

"LET GO!"

He kicked.

The guard barely moved.

Kael bit his hand.

The guard cursed.

His mother screamed.

Mira screamed his name.

Kael twisted around.

His eyes found his father's.

"Stop them!"

Tomas didn't move.

"Father!"

Nothing.

Kael's struggle slowed.

The guard dragged him toward the wagon.

Kael stared at his father.

"You sold me."

His father began crying.

Kael's voice became cold.

"I'll never forgive you."

The wagon door opened.

Kael was thrown inside.

The door slammed shut.

For the first hour, he screamed.

For the second, he cried.

By the third, there were no tears left.

The wagon carried him north.

The village disappeared.

The fields disappeared.

The road became a narrow path through the forest.

Across from Kael sat an old man with gray hair and scarred wrists.

He had been watching the boy.

"First time?" he asked.

Kael didn't answer.

The old man nodded.

"Thought so."

"Where are we going?"

"Slave camp."

Kael looked at him.

"How do you know?"

The old man raised his wrists.

"Experience."

Kael stared at the scars.

"How long?"

"Twenty-two years."

Kael's eyes widened.

"You've been a slave for twenty-two years?"

"Yes."

"Why haven't you escaped?"

The old man smiled without humor.

"I tried."

"What happened?"

"They caught me."

Kael looked toward the wooden bars.

"What happens there?"

The old man studied him.

"You work."

"And if I don't?"

"You work."

Kael understood.

The old man sighed.

"What's your name?"

"Kael."

"Mine is Orven."

Kael nodded.

Then he looked through the bars.

Mountains appeared in the distance.

Huge.

White.

Untouched.

His eyes remained on them.

Orven followed his gaze.

"Don't."

Kael looked at him.

"Don't what?"

"Whatever you're thinking."

Kael turned back toward the mountains.

"I wasn't thinking anything."

Orven smiled.

"That's the first lie everyone tells."

The wagon continued north.

Kael said nothing.

But he watched the road.

He watched the guards.

He watched the locks.

He watched the horses.

He watched everything.

And for the first time since leaving Rensar, the fear inside him began changing into something else.

Not hope.

Not yet.

Something harder.

Something colder.

A decision.

Kael would survive.

And someday, somehow, he would return.

Not as the boy they had sold for ten silver.

But as someone they could never sell again.

Far beyond the mountains, something waited beneath a sky no human had ever conquered.

And Kael had no idea that his life had already begun moving toward it.

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